The invention relates to a lint retention apparatus for a laundry drying appliance (in particular a tumble dryer or washer/dryer), the lint retention apparatus having a lint separator. The invention also relates to a laundry drying appliance, having a laundry drum and a process air condenser, which are connected by way of a process air-conducting process air channel, and having a lint separator disposed in the process air channel for flow purposes downstream of the laundry drum and upstream of the condenser.
Lint is typically emitted by the laundry to be dried into the process air flowing along during a drying process and includes, for example, fiber particles produced during washing or drying. If such particles are not eliminated from the process air, they can settle on a process air condenser, where hot and moist process air exiting from the laundry drum is typically cooled and as a result stripped from moisture contained therein by condensation. The settling of the lint reduces the efficiency of the process air condenser. Cleaning off the lint that has settled on the process air condenser is a complex operation and must normally be performed by a user between drying processes, or even by service personnel only.
To prevent lint settling on the process air condenser, it is known to dispose a lint separator in the form of a mesh filter in a process air channel between the laundry drum and the process air condenser for through flow by process air. Generally small dimensions of lint particles of only around one micrometer mean that the particles can pass through most mesh filters, which generally have larger mesh sizes. Mesh filters with smaller mesh sizes disadvantageously demonstrate high flow resistances for the process air passing through. Also the mesh filters have to be cleaned from time to time to remove lint formed by larger particles, etc., which has to be done manually by a user and is time consuming.
The use of a lint separator in the form of a cyclone separator is known from EP 1 380 683 A2 or DE 197 39 378 A1. This has the disadvantage that the separation effect is relatively poor, as the effective density of the lint present in the process air flow is similar to the density of air.
EP 0 535 348 A1 discloses a lint separator in the form of a process air washer, in which the process air is sprayed with condensate to form a condensate curtain, and lint which adheres to the condensate curtain is eliminated from the process air. However such a lint separator is relatively ineffective and also complex in structure.